These are the Days--Truly.

Went to the beach with Sophia yesterday. Never mind that it was Saturday, traditionally a beach day for us anyway. We had work to do. Sophia had finally graduated from toy to tool. Gone was her $7.99 plastic coated, Styrofoam constructed boogie board, and in it's place was the new Body Glove "Crush 39" contoured laminate Boogie Board. That's right, she had graduated to the junior leagues. And high time as well, considering Sophia is a child of the ocean and did in fact take her first dip two weeks after her birth in July 1998 she was afterall well schooled in beach activity.

Still, Sophie's Boogie Boarding skills had been forged slowly, due in large part to her healthy respect and occasional fear of the ocean's power, especially here in this part of Florida where the Gulf stream runs closer to the coast than anywhere else in North America. Having said this, once she got her first real ride she was hooked. Problem was she still had more of a toy boogie board, made of approximately the same weight of Styrofoam as you'd proabably find in a Dell computer box. She was ready, so I brought her to be fitted with her new "tool", explaining to her that the difference in ride would be akin to a bicycle vs. a motorcycle. She was psyched, as was I knowing full well the waves would be great this weekend.

The day was met with an auspicious display of both threatening clouds and rougher surf, due in large part to the strengthening storm to our south named Dean. This was initially met with great anticipation when we checked the surf report. It wasn't so welcomed after Sophie's first wave battered her off the board and tumbled her several times under the salty, foamy surf. She popped up down range about 15 meters and she had the look of tears, fear, and pain. I ran over, told her "she was OK" and encouraged her to get back out there. Initially she wanted nothing to do with it and possessed the face of a child who's had her first bicycle crash, I knew instinctively that to hug her now would only encourage the hanging tears welled in her eyes to drop, so I didn't. Instead I gave her some instruction on what waves to let pass, and which ones to take. She got back on her board and paddled back out armed with a bit more knowledge.

And good for her too. Not long after the initial scare the clouds opened and the blue sky burst through. The oceans' personality changed as well, almost as if it were willing to tone it down a notch for Sophia to get her technique down on her new board. Sure enough we went back in, this time the surf was offering swells much further out, allowing a longer, smoother ride without the slam ending at the surf's edge. It was at this point in the day that Sophia turned the corner on her Boogie Board skill set. She began to really ride the new and faster board, recognizing now not just how to ride it, but also steer it. She was getting 50 meter rides now, propped high on the white water. One look at her face and you could see she was hooked.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention Sophie had also picked out a UV protecting Body Glove surf shirt to wear with her bikini bottoms, so she totally "looked" the part. We, without doubt, spent at least 4 of our 6 hours on the beach in the ocean. This to me is equivalent to teaching her to ride her bike 5 years ago. Both events approached with eager anticipation, yet reserved fear. I explained to Sophia that overcoming her fear of the sea in it's rougher form is akin to overcoming many challenges in her life. I think she got it. If she didn't, she will someday, because I know that what we did on this Saturday August 18, 2007 will be in her mind as it is mine, forever.

These truly are the days. I'm lucky I get to spend them on such a beautiful beach with such a beautiful and nice daughter.